Teatime treats Bisca

TEATIME TREATS

Bisca A/S, Denmark’s largest producer of cakes and biscuits, is the company behind the well-known brands, Bakkegaarden and Karen Volf. Last year, Bisca was acquired by the Norwegian consumer goods company Scandza AS, which is majority owned by the private equity firm, Lindsay Goldberg. Joseph Altham reports on an acquisition that has strengthened Scandza’s position as a leading Scandinavian consumer goods company.

Bisca supplies a delicious range of teatime treats to the Scandinavian consumer, from Danish cookies to marzipan cakes. The company’s production facilities are located in the pretty market town of Stege, on the Danish island of Møn. Bisca employs around 460 people, the majority of whom work at the company’s 35,000 m2 production site. With total annual sales of 728 million Danish kroner, Bisca is the market leader in Denmark in the biscuits and cakes segment. Bisca has a strong presence in the Norwegian and Swedish markets and also exports to Britain, Finland and Russia.

High production values have helped Bisca to earn the trust of the Scandinavian consumer. The company has obtained IFS (International Food Standard) certification and is also certified to the standards of the British Retail Consortium. However, Bisca is especially proud to hold the royal warrant, as a Purveyor to the Royal Danish Court. Craftsmanship and high quality are vital to Bisca’s success, but the company also emphasises sustainability. In 2008, Bisca launched a programme of energy-saving measures in partnership with the energy efficiency specialist, Danfoss Solutions. By the spring of 2010, Bisca succeeded in reducing its energy consumption by 17 per cent and lowering its annual carbon emissions by 1320 tons. Products and brands

Bisca is a company with a long history. The Karen Volf brand dates back to 1890, when Karen Volf started a cake-making business in the town of Hellerup, near Copenhagen. Today Bisca offers a selection of tempting cakes under the Karen Wolf label. These include Danish truffle cakes, which are made with fruit and rum, bite-sized lemon cakes and Dark Delights, little cakes that have an orange cream filling and are covered with Belgian chocolate. The company is equally famous for its traditional Danish cookies. Sold in attractive-looking 400g boxes, Bisca’s Danish cookies come in five different shapes, including vanilla ring, vanilla star and pretzel.

Bisca has also brought out a new addition to its range of cookies. Based on wheat flour, the Karen Volf cranberry cookies are made with dried cranberries and have a crunchy taste.

Change in ownership

In 2011, Bisca was acquired by the Norwegian fast-moving consumer goods company Scandza. The managers of Scandza are two former Carlsberg executives, Jan Bodd and Stig Sunde, who between them have nearly 50 years of experience in the food and beverage sector. Bisca fits well into Scandza’s porfolio of assets, alongside Sørlandschips AS, Norway’s second largest potato chips company, and Synnøve Finden AS, Norway’s second largest dairy company.

Scandza itself is majority-owned by Lindsay Goldberg, a private equity firm headquartered in New York. Lindsay Goldberg is a longterm investor that aims to grow businesses and build lasting value. Bisca represents an attractive investment opportunity, not only on account of its robust market position throughout the Nordic region, but also because of the healthy state of its finances. Over the past few years, Bisca has achieved positive financial growth under the management of Leif Bergvall Hansen, Lars Ytting and Michael Budtz Berthelsen. Scandza has therefore acquired a company that is already in good shape, as Claus Astrup-Larsen, Chairman of the Board at Bisca, points out. “In recent

years, Bisca has implemented a new strategy focused on more processed cakes and biscuits and has been able to show greatly improved results. At the same time, the company has built up a robust position as market leader in Denmark as well as strong positions in Norway and Sweden.”

Growth strategy

By assembling a collection of various Scandinavian FMCG companies, Scandza can put together a larger operation and benefit from the resulting scale. Mr Bodd and Mr Sunde ought to be able to do something interesting with Bisca, given their considerable expertise in food and beverages. Partnership is an important concept here as the new owners seek to build on the solid achievements of Bisca’s management team.

Bisca’s CEO, Mr Bergvall Hansen, has welcomed the acquisition. “I am pleased to be able to join the Scandza team. Bisca has realised strong improvements across the business platform in recent years, not least because of the great team we have. I am looking forward to continuing this success as part of Scandza.” The acquisition of Bisca has provided Scandza with a foothold in Denmark as well as broadening its FMCG competence to include new kinds of product. Altogether, the purchase of Bisca enables Scandza to solidify its position in the Nordic region. Mr Bodd and Mr Sunde thus consider the acquisition to be a key element in Scandza’s growth strategy. “We are very excited to be able to expand Scandza both geographically and product-wise, in line with our long-term strategy of becoming a leading Nordic consumer goods company.” n